Online Resources

Collections Advisor is a free monthly email that includes tips on how to improve collections care, information about collections care advocacy and case studies of collections care successes in Hoosier cultural organizations.

Subscribe to Collections Advisor

For questions, please email collectionsadvisor@indianahistory.org.

Past issues, arranged alphabetically by topic:

Access

• Collections as Accessibility Assets
• Conservator’s Holiday: A Volunteer Program
• Dissecting Digitization: Part I
• Dissecting Digitization: Part II
• Dissecting Digitization: Part III
• Engaging the Community through Collections Stewardship
• Helpful Online Resources: Part I
• Helpful Online Resources: Part II
• Hunting for Collection Information
• Indigenous Belongings in Museum Collections
• It’s Picture Time! – Photographing Collections Objects
• Making Your Online Collections Accessible
• Photo Digitization
• Promoting Awareness: Getting the Work Done and Getting the Word Out
• Promoting Awareness: Getting Out of the Building and Into the Community
• Social Tagging and Museum Collections
• So Someone Wants a Copy of a Digital Image
• Transfixed Teenagers! Connecting Teens to Collections
• “Using” Museum Objects
• Why Can’t We..

Collections Processing

• Accept or Decline: Making Collections Decisions
• Adding to the Collection: It’s a Process
• Barrier Layers: B-72 or B-67…What’s the Difference?
• Basic Cataloging Tips
• Collection Inventory Basics
• Collections Assessments Made Manageable
• Collections Assessments Made Manageable: Intermediate Plans
• Collections Assessments Made Manageable: Long Range Goals
• Collections Management Policies: Part 1
• Collections Management Policies: Part 2
• Components of a Collections Management Policy
• Cooking Up Database Standards
• Creating a Collections Manual
• Everything in its Place: Defining Database Fields
• Firearms Safety in Collections
• How Do We Decide? Collections Donation Questions
• Labeling Objects
• Numbering Systems: How Many Are Too Many?
• Off the Shelf: Pair o’ Docs
• Organization is Key
• Reproductions, Replicas and Forgeries in Museum Collections
• So This Box Comes In: Unpacking Collections Donations
• Temporary Receipt vs Deed of Gift
• What About Collections Committees?
• What’s Inside?  Unpacking Boxes of Collections Donations
• Working with Auction Houses

Exhibits and Interpretation

• Changing Seasons, Changing Objects
• Collecting Difficult History
• Effective use of Awkward Wall Space
• Exhibition Materials and Collections Stewardship
• Fun with Fossshape!
• Give it a Rest: Thoughts on Exhibiting Light-sensitive Objects
• Moving Forward: Grappling with the Present and Navigating the Future
• One Object, Many Stories
• On the Road with T.C. Steele: Transporting Works of Art
• Protecting Collections During Exhibition
• Rethinking Collections

Facilities

• Creating a New Museum Space
• Drying Out Basements in Historic Buildings
• Keeping Cool as the Temperature Rises
• Managing Water Risks in Collection Areas
• Taking Care of Your Building: The First Line of Defense for Your Collections

Funding

• An Outline for Writing a Grant for Collections Funding
• Are Collections an Asset?
• Budgeting for Collections
• Collections Funds
• Don’t Be Afraid to Try: Going After Grants for Collections Storage
• Five Tips for Collections Care Grant Proposals
• Fundraising During a Crisis
• Fundraising for Collections Care
• Leveraging a Conservation Assessment Program Grant
• Strategic Fundraising for Collections Care
• Strategic Fundraising for Collections Care Begins with a Plan
• What is a Case Statement, and Why Should We Write One?

Policies and Procedures

• Accept or Decline: Making Collections Decisions
• Adding to the Collection: It’s a Process
• A Year in Review
• Changes to Indiana’s Museum Property Law
• Choosing Objects for the Restored Thiebauld House
• Codes of Ethics for Museums
• Considering Collections Committees
• Environmental Monitoring for Collections
• Grave Memorials and Burial Items in Museum Collections
• Implementing Indiana’s Museum Property Law
• Indiana’s Property Law in Brief
• Insuring Your Collection
• Integrating Collections Into Your Strategic Plan
• Loaning Museum Objects
• New Readings for the New Year
• New Year’s Resolutions for the Museum
• Nothing About Us, Without Us
• Questions to answer before saying “YES!”
• So Someone Wants a Copy of a Digital Image
• So You Would Like to Make a Donation?
• Starting an Institutional Archive
• Stewardship of Collections Case Study

Preservation and Conservation

• A Few of My Favorite Things – Collection Care Tips and Tricks
• All Those Newspapers
• April Showers Bring May Flowers – Caring for Floral and Fauna Collections
• Back to Basics
• Basics of a Disaster/Emergency Kit
• Caring for Books
• Caring for Jewelry
• Caring for Metals
• Caring for Wooden Furniture
• Collection Horror Stories
• Condition Issues: Structural vs. Cosmetic
• Deterioration: Environmental versus Inherent Vice
• Disaster and Emergency Preparedness: What do you do when disaster strikes?
• Disaster Dangers: Eight to Mitigate
• Drying Out Basements in Historic Buildings
• Encapsulation vs Lamination
• Endangered Heritage: Risks to Museum Objects Part 1
• Endangered Heritage: Risks to Museum Objects Part 2
• Firearms Safety in Collections
• Fur and Feathers in Costume Collections
• Hoosier Heritage Alliance Connecting to Collections Survey Report
• How to Humidify and Flatten Folded Documents
• Integrated Pest Management for Collections
• Is That … Mold?
• Keeping Collections Safe and Healthy During a Pandemic
• Mayday! Emergency and Disaster Preparedness
• Object Handling Guidelines
• Plastic – Part of American Life for More than 150 Years
• Quick Tips for Collections Care (April Fools!)
• Show Your Collection Some Love: Working With Conservators
• Spring Cleaning Arsenal
• Spring is in the Air
• Surface Cleaning Documents
• Synthetic Fibers in Textiles
• Taxidermy and Arsenic
• The Care, Display and Storage of Paintings in Museums and Historic Homes
• The Weather Challenge
• Timely Tips: Handling Small Objects
• Timely Tips: Handling and Storing Textiles
• Timely Tips: Handling Large Collection Objects
• Timely Tips: Hazardous Materials in Collections
• Timely Tips – Special Holiday Edition
• Timely Tips – Types of Storage Materials
• Tips for your Historic Costume Collection
• Tips on Caring for Documents and Photographs
• Tis the Season for Cold Weather, Holiday Parties and…Pests?
• Treating Musty Books at the Yellow Trail Museum
• What is a Conservator?
• What’s in Your Heritage Closet?
• Winterizing Your Collections

Storage

• A Collection of….Food?
• Collections Storage Asbestos Abatement
• Firearms Safety in Collections
• Housing Photographic Collections
• Making a Collections Move
• Object Storage: Tips from the Minnetrista Heritage Collection Basic Collections Care Guide
• Planning Collections Storage and Research Spaces
• Planning for Collections Storage Cabinetry
• Round Collections, Square Boxes
• Storing the Holidays
• Tales From the Storage Vault
• Timely Tips: Short, Mid, and Long Term Storage
• Winter at Conner Prairie

Other Tips

• Celebrating 100 Issues Tips
• Celebrating 100 Issues Tips, Part 2
• Curl up with a Good Book
• Online Collection Resources
• Twelve Days of Collections

Special Edition Minivisors (Produced during the COVID-19 Crisis)

• Cleaning the Museum
• Collecting COVID-19
• Collections Management Policy
• Create a Walk-Through Checklist
• Creating Items for Collections Storage
• Evaluating Deaccession Policies and Procedures
• Making a Case for Support
• Reevaluating Your Emergency Plan
• Resource Round Up
• Reviewing Museum Plans and Policies
• Reviewing Procedures, Paperwork and Forms
• Setting Standards for Collections Work

This free electronic newsletter arrives in your inbox every Friday filled with lots of exciting news for local history organizations and anyone involved in local history. Find out about exhibits, programs, resources and opportunities around the state and beyond.

Subscribe to Communique Online

For questions or to submit articles for publication, please email col@indianahistory.org.

Recent editions:

• February 7, 2025
• January 31, 2025
• January 24, 2025
• January 17, 2025
• January 10, 2025
• December 20, 2024
• December 13, 2024
• December 6, 2024

The Speakers List is provided as a service to groups and organizations throughout Indiana seeking history programs and presentations.

Speakers should be contacted directly to make speaking arrangements. The Indiana Historical Society lists the speakers as a service to them and to you. None of the speakers listed herein, except for IHS staff, represent the Indiana Historical Society. If you have questions about this list or wish to submit corrections or additions, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

You can view/download the Speakers List in two ways:

Sortable Speakers List – Excel Spreadsheet
The list can be sorted by subject, speaker name, title, and more. To sort, click the down arrow in the desired section in the header row.

PDF List of Speakers
The list is arranged in alphabetical order by the speaker’s last name.

The Lending Resource Center contains a lending library of reference and how-to books on topics such as archives management, board development, conservation, disaster planning, evaluation, fundraising, museum operations and much more. We also offer sample job descriptions, policies and other documents. Resources can be borrowed by organizations and individuals who collect, preserve, research and/or interpret Indiana’s history.

Books can be borrowed for four weeks, and extensions may be granted if there are no pending requests. There are no limitations on the number of times requests may be made. Up to four publications may be borrowed at a time. There is no charge for borrowing items, however you are required to pay return postage. You are financially responsible for lost or damaged items.

SEARCH THE DATABASE

To arrange a loan, request an extension or suggest materials to add to our lending library, e-mail localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org. When ordering, please provide the titles and authors (if known), your name, phone number, mailing address and the historical organization that you represent.

Professional Standards have been established for the fields of history and museums to ensure best practices, professional conduct and characteristics of excellence. The links below offer guidelines and resources for meeting these standards.

Archives

• Society of American Archivists – Standards Portal

Collections

• American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works – Codes of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice and Caring for Your Treasures: Guides for Taking Care of Your Personal Heritage
• National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior – Museum Handbook, Part I: Museum Collections

Digitization

• Institute for Museum and Library Services/National Information Standards Organization –A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections

Genealogy

• National Genealogical Society – Guidelines for Sound Genealogical Research
• Board for Certification of Genealogists – Ethics and Standards

Historical Societies and Museums

• American Association for State and Local History – Standards and Excellence Program (StEPs)
• American Alliance of Museums – Code of Ethics
• American Alliance of Museums – Characteristics of Excellence for U.S. Museums

Historic Preservation

• National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior – Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic Preservation

History Scholarship

• American Historical Association – Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct

Oral History

• Oral History Association – Principles and Best Practices

Volunteer Programs

• American Association for Museum Volunteers – Standards and Best Practices for Museum Volunteer Programs

I.M. Hero, an enthusiastic volunteer, begins his first day at the museum and realizes that it is under attack by Deteriora and her evil agents. Will the hero save the museum? How will he defeat the Agents of Destruction? Who will help him? Find the answers to these and other questions in Deteriora and the Agents of Destruction.